Animal Welfare

A month after the controversial signing of convicted dogfighter Michael Vick, the Eagles yesterday circulated a draft plan to animal-rights groups that calls for an immediate, widespread campaign to combat animal abuse in Philadelphia. According to the proposal, obtained by The Inquirer, the team plans a range of new animal-welfare activities, including deployment of Eagles players and cheerleaders to schools and community events and a mobile animal-care van to at-risk areas. The van could be called the Pet Mobile.

The Delaware County Council has appointed eight people to the Animal Protection Board, which will oversee construction of a new animal-control facility in Darby Township. Last year, the SPCA gave notice that it would no longer continue municipal animal-control contracts starting this summer. The Media-based shelter and the council reached a deal to extend the contracts by six months. The new facility, on Calcon Hook Road, is scheduled for completion by December. The county is seeking to establish a nonprofit to run the shelter, said Councilman Mario J. Civera.

For the second time in two months, a Burlington County animal-rights activist is facing charges stemming from his pursuit of animal-welfare cases. John Dobran, who was convicted of horse theft Nov. 24 while pressing an animal-cruelty case in Southampton Township Municipal Court, faces two charges of animal cruelty and two charges of misrepresenting himself while he was at a Springfield Township farm. At the same time, Dobran is pressing animal-cruelty charges against one of his accusers.

HARRISBURG - Without fresh revenue, a fund that plays a vital role in protecting dogs in Pennsylvania will run out of money by next year, state officials say. Battered by a multi-million-dollar fund transfer in 2010, plummeting interest rates and stagnant dog license sales, the state's "restricted" account, created to pay for a range of animal welfare-related services, is shrinking fast. State officials say the Dog Law Restricted Account, which in 2007 had a $14 million balance, may run out of money in 2013.

A small canister has created a big fuss between two groups interested in helping animals and has left an unlikely state agency - the Liquor Control Board - in the middle of the squabble. The problem erupted when the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals was bothered by the language used by a smaller group called Spay and Save Inc. on donation canisters placed in State Stores. Eileen Chamberlain, vice president of Spay and Save, a volunteer operation that tries to get pet owners from poor communities to spay and neuter animals, said the LCB sided with the SPCA and ordered the cans removed from store counters earlier this week.

- Attributed to American financier John P. Grier, banker Andrew W. Mellon and writer Clare Boothe Luce, among others .   THE Michael Vick Salvage Project that divided the Eagles fan base also fractured the animal-welfare community, with the Humane Society of the United States in the doghouse with some who oppose HSUS' deal to work with the felonious quarterback. In a 2 1/2-hour meeting yesterday, the divided met the fractured. For visuals, think Grand Canyon and San Andreas Fault.

A veterinary student from Bala Cynwyd has received a $100,000 inspiration award that will allow her to do postgraduate work in farm-animal welfare. Rachel Toaff-Rosenstein, 26, a fourth-year student at the University of Pennsylvania's School of Veterinary Medicine, was presented with a Penn Vet Student Inspiration Award on Tuesday during ceremonies in Philadelphia. She and another student - Warren Waybright, of Gettysburg, Pa. - were picked from among 21 applicants, said Alan M. Kelly, the school's dean emeritus, who chaired the selection panel.

Karolyn Smith wants the township to pass an animal-protection ordinance because she believes that the state and federal agencies that regulate animal welfare don't do enough. Armed with 155 supportive signatures from other residents, the Concord woman asked the supervisors at Tuesday's meeting to pass a measure with strict standards for the care of dogs and cats at kennels and pet stores. "It's easier to have a law on the books than later, to try to (pass) one should problems arise," she said.

A torrent of bad press and fan outrage over the signing last summer of convicted animal abuser Michael Vick pushed the Philadelphia Eagles into the animal-welfare business. In September, the team rolled out a sweeping plan to combat dogfighting and animal abuse in Southeastern Pennsylvania with a slew of initiatives promising to "leverage the Eagles' brand" on behalf of animals, as it has with other causes such as breast cancer, literacy, and the environment. An Eagles Web site was launched to promote the program, called Treating Animals With Kindness (TAWK)

IN SHERMON Kerr's vegetarian society ("The veal deal," May 3), he quotes as fact a wide variety of incorrect information apparently from a New York-based animal-rights group. This group disguises itself as an animal-welfare group, but in reality it is a radical animal activist group that believes any tactic is worth it for its stated agenda of a meat-free world. All you have to do to discover this group's true agenda is to listen to their own founder's quotes. Discussing the dairy industry in a January 1997 Vegetarian Times article, Gene Bauston made the stunning statement that "there is implicitly no humane milk.

Whether or not Michael Vick remains an Eagle, the team says it will continue to help the region's needy animals in the long term. The team adopted animal welfare as a cause in 2009 following the controversial signing of Vick after his release from federal prison. He was convicted of running an illegal dog fighting ring. "The commitment is continuing," an Eagles spokesman, Rob Zeiger, said last week. The team has donated roughly $400,000 of the animal welfare fund's $500,000 to about a dozen area charities, said Zeiger, adding that "when we run through that, we'll revisit where we go. " (Zeiger is no longer employed by the Eagles.)

Whether or not Michael Vick remains a Eagle, the team says it will continue to help the region's needy animals in the long term. The team adopted animal welfare as a cause in 2009 following the controversial signing of Vick after his release from federal prison. He was convicted of running an illegal dogfighting ring. "The commitment is continuing," an Eagles spokesman, Rob Zeiger, said last week. The team has donated roughly $400,000 of the animal welfare fund's $500,000 to about a dozen area charities, said Zeiger, adding that "when we run through that, we'll revisit where we go. " (Zeiger is no longer employed by the Eagles.)

BISMARCK, N.D. - Voters in heavily agriculture-dependent North Dakota became the first to enshrine in their state constitution the right to farm, a move that some say could have far-reaching effects on genetic modification, land use, and the way animals are raised. The amendment approved Tuesday guarantees the right of farmers to engage in "modern" agriculture and bars any law limiting their right "to employ agricultural technology, modern livestock production, and ranching practices.

A day after declining to say whether he owned a dog, Michael Vick released a statement Thursday confirming that his family had obtained one. "I understand the strong emotions by some people about our family's decision to care for a pet," the Eagles quarterback said in a statement released by his publicist. "As a father, it is important to make sure my children develop a healthy relationship with animals. "I want to ensure that my children establish a loving bond and treat all of God's creatures with kindness and respect.

IT TURNS OUT that Eagles quarterback Michael Vick doesn't have really weird snacking habits after all. That opened box of Milk-Bones dog biscuits spotted in his recently tweeted photo belongs not to No. 7 but to the newest member of the Vick household - their dog. Yes, Michael Vick has a dog. Vick, who served time for his role in an illegal dogfighting ring that savagely murdered numerous animals, understands how that might strike dog-lovers....

HARRISBURG - The images are stark: men and teenagers drop-kicking wounded pigeons like footballs, stomping on them, slamming them against their heels until they explode. The Illinois-based group SHark (Showing Animals Respect and Kindness) says the images from a Berks County pigeon shoot last month are evidence that the shoots - the topic of a decades-long debate in the Capitol - violate state animal cruelty laws and that legislators and law enforcement should stop them. "This is the worst cruelty I've seen in 20 years of doing this," said SHark spokesman Stuart Chaifetz.

Mmm, mmm good. That's the word coming out of the Pennsylvania SPCA about its just-hired CEO, Jerry Buckley, formerly a top PR exec at Campbell Soup Company who opened his career with strong journalism credentials — 11 years as a correspondent for Newsweek followed by eight years as a senior editor at U.S. News & World Report. The 56-year-old Buckley is the fourth CEO to head the animal welfare agency since 2007, and churn is a bad ingredient when you're trying to cook up an effective organization, one that has received some withering criticism in recent years.

With Congress launching debate on a new farm bill, there's no better time for Pennsylvania's congressional delegation to bring some sizzle to a major reform affecting one of the state's biggest farming sectors. As the nation's third-largest egg producer, Pennsylvania has a major stake in a proposal introduced last week in the Senate — and already gathering sponsors in the House — that would improve living conditions for egg-laying chickens. Following the lead of several states, the federal push to gradually shift all U.S. farms to larger cages for more than 250 million hens crammed into spaces so tight they can't spread a wing has been getting bipartisan backing.

I've been having some crappy mornings lately - literally. I walk out my door, admire the contrast of the cherry blossoms against the crisp blue sky, and then hobble over a fresh mound of dog droppings. The Spring Garden section of Philadelphia is scattered with such treasures, occasionally encased in blue plastic bags. On trash day, I return home to a recycling bin containing at least three of these goody bags to bring back into the house. Let's face it: Dealing with dog waste, whether you own a dog or not, is a fact of life.